Runic Awakening was originally conceived, among other things, as an exploration of different kinds of father-figures.

Kyle struggles with seeing Steve as his new stepfather, resisting the thought of having more than one person he calls “Dad.” When he’s transported to Doma, he finds Kalibar, who becomes a surrogate father-figure for him. Darius is also a father-figure, as is the Dead Man…and later, Sabin tries to become a parent for all mankind.

Kalibar is the nurturing, kind, and patient mentor…the one that Kyle ultimately chooses as his surrogate father.

Darius is hands-off and gruff, forcing Kyle to sink or swim. Not at all nurturing, he teaches by doing and forcing Kyle to go beyond his comfort zone.

The Dead Man is a good teacher, but is cruel and manipulative. He cares about Kyle in his own twisted way, but is abusive and controlling.

This theme extended to the subsequent books, including the latest one: Runic Revolt.

Did you know that Vi from the Fate of Legends series was supposed to be a man?

When I first envisioned Hunter of Legends, I imagined Hunter meeting his mentor about halfway through the book. This mentor was going to be a middle-aged man, a bit gruff, and reluctant to teach Hunter how to be a Seeker.

But when I reached the chapter where this mentor was introduced, I just couldn’t write him as a “he.” In a split second, Vi was born…and the rest is history.

So when she’s first introduced, Hunter, Sukri, Gammon, and Kris mistake her for a man…a nod toward her original identity!

I’m about 300 pages in to the sequel to “The Magic Collector,” which I’m calling “The Lost Gemini!”

The book cover should be done by the end of September or so, and I’m hoping that I’ll have it published by November. I’ve got the World Fantasy Convention coming up, and am preparing for that, so I’ve got a lot of work ahead of me!

After I finish The Lost Gemini, I’m planning on working on a fourth book in the Fate of Legends series…a sequel to Destroyer of Legends. At the same time, I’ll either be working on the third book in the Magic of Havenwood series, or on the first book in a totally new series.

A girl sitting at a table in a library, opening a book. And when she finishes it, she looks up…and everyone in the library is gone.

I combined this with inspiration I received from listening to a talk by Gregory Manchess during the first World Fantasy Convention I attended, in 2017. A gifted painter, Mr. Manchess mentioned that he learned that what drew people to paintings and book covers was the story created by the art…and a mystery within that story that made people want to know more.

This idea, combined with the vision of a girl in a library lost in a book, was the seed that grew into the tale told by The Magic Collector.

My wife and I, having two boys, planned on having another child. If we had a girl, my wife wanted to name her Bellatrix. My wife is a wonderfully dark person, identifying with villains far more so than heroes. And she loves the moon, and wolves, and Halloween. So of course her daughter - if she existed - would share these qualities.

And thus, Bella was born. Not in real life (yet), but in a book.

So, with the idea that art was the process of telling stories, and that a very dark but sweet girl named Bella would get lost in a book, I created the characters and world of The Magic Collector. Grandpa represented my journey as a writer, and the lessons I’d learned as an artist and a father.

The story grew as it was written, as is the case with all books. And as it grew, more characters sprang forth from the ether, and the magic of writing took hold. My characters took on a life of their own, and I drew them forth from the page, making them real…for myself, and I hope, for some of you.

I took great pleasure in writing The Magic Collector. If you experience a fraction of that joy reading it, then I will be quite content.

It is currently in the process of being published to Amazon’s site, and should be available in a few hours at least, and tomorrow morning at the latest, if things go as per the usual. The paperback will take a bit longer, and will take some time to be linked to the ebook version.

The Magic Collector manuscript is complete! I’m waiting on a revision of the book cover before I publish the book. And I’m also nearly 40% done with the first draft of the sequel.

I’ve also registered and booked the flight and hotel for the World Fantasy Convention in LA! My wife and I are excited to be attending, and look forward to meeting fellow authors - and readers - in the city of angels. If you'll be there, let me know…I’d love to meet you!

The Magic Collector, the first book in my newest fantasy series, is finished! The first draft of the book cover should be done by June 4th. Depending on how many revisions there are of the cover, the book should be available on Amazon for purchasing sometime in mid-June.

I’ve also ordered a book cover to be done in October for the sequel to the Magic Collector, which I’m over a quarter of the way through writing already!

I’ll post a pic of the cover for The Magic Collector as soon as it’s available. I thoroughly enjoyed writing it, and I can’t wait for you guys to read it!

I know I’ve been a little lax on the blog posts recently…but I swear I’m hard at work on my new fantasy series!

I’m deep into the edits for the first book in the series, tentatively titled “A Brush With Magic.” And I’m a quarter of the way through the first draft of the second book in this new series. The book cover for the first book will be done in June, and the cover for the second will probably be done sometime in October of this year. If all goes as planned, I’ll be publishing both shortly after their covers are finished.

I’ve still got more books planned for the Runic series, and book 5 is percolating in my brain as I write. And after that? Who knows! But I’m planning on releasing at least 2-3 books a year.

As always, I’ll keep you updated using the graphs on the home page of my web site. To check out my progress there, click here!

I’ve been working hard on the first and second book of my newest series. The first one, tentatively titled “A Brush With Magic,” is deep into the editing phase. The book cover is due for sometime in June. Looking forward to having all of you read it! Hopefully you’ll enjoy it as much as I enjoyed writing it.

The second book is going strong. I’m already a good 70 pages in. I plan to have the first draft finished in a few months!

After doing so - and learning from my mistakes as I went - I’ve become very comfortable with self-publishing and am becoming more adept at marketing my books with time and practice. While the first book I published took me two weeks to format for print and ebook, for example, now it takes me about an hour or two. So publishing my newest book series myself would be quick and painless.

But we writers are masochists by nature, and I prefer to be uncomfortable!

Therefore, I’ve decided to see if I can publish my next novel traditionally. I’ve queried a few agents, which requires a whole new skillset. The ability to sales-pitch professionals within the industry is something I’m trying to develop. A new adventure into the unknown!

Naturally, if no agents or publishers pick it up, I’ll go the indie route again. In the meantime, I’m hard at work at the sequel, as well as a science fiction novel.

I’ll start the editing process today. Lots of changes to make, as usual, but the bones of the story are there. I’ll keep you posted with my progress using the graph on the home page as usual. I’m hoping to have the final draft done before the summer!

I’m almost 400 pages in to the first draft in my newest book. The first book in a brand-new series, in fact. I’m still going back-and-forth on the title, but my plan is to finish the draft this month, then spend the next couple of months editing the heck out of it.

I’ve also played around with the price of the first books in the Runic series and the Fate of Legends series. They were originally at $2.99, and I’d discounted them for a few months at $0.99 each as a way to get people into the series.

The price makes a pretty substantial difference.

2-3 times as many people pick up the books when they’re at 99 cents…and more people pick up the subsequent books in the series as a result. As a result, for marketing purposes, it appears that a lower price for the first books is a more effective draw.

I’ve been using Facebook ads, and have found they result in a spike of sales initially, but after a few days, the effect seems to peter out. Not sure why this is, but if I stop the ads for a while, then activate them again, I get the same result.

I have the urge to spend more time learning the ins and outs of marketing, but for now I want to focus most of my (limited) free time on writing more books!